Where theory meets practice and education meets liberation

Unapologetically Black

Hey Family,

This week brings us to our final step in our CREAD “we gon’ be alright” educator as activist stay woke plan for demolishing white supremacy, patriarchy, and institutional racism in the pursuit for freedom and liberation for Diasporic people. In order to do this we must have an unapologetic, unabashed,unflinching, unrelenting love of Black people. Society speaks a lot about white supremacy. We are pointing it out and working to dismantle it, which is fantastic and at the same time we need to recognize the relationship between white supremacy and black inferiority. In all actuality, you can’t have one without the other, so to fight one you must also bolster the other.

We dedicate the work of CREAD to disrupting and dismantling black inferiority and replacing it with an unapologetic and proud love for the diaspora. We have taken you through the steps, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and today we land here. Our steps aren’t linear, (that’s oppressive) but rather, they are cyclical. They are all interconnected. When one seemingly ends, another begins.The work never ends.

Tomorrow morning, we will have to get to our final stage of grief and accept things as they are. But what does that really mean? Trump may be the President, ok. For us, that means that we are going to have to be unapologetic about our Blackness in all its forms and that we will be disciplined in all our actions to preserve PRIDE for ourselves and our students. This is going to require us to do things we’ve never done and to be more brave then we’ve ever been. As we go into our holiday break, we are asking you to reaffirm yourself by reading, listening and creating about our unapologetic love for Blackness.

Reading: I will be re-reading, Carter G. Woodson’s, “The Miseducation of the Negro” and Dr. David Billings, “Deep Denial: The Persistence of White Supremacy in United States History and Life.”

Music: I have been listening to the same 5 albums for the last week and I don’t see me stopping anytime soon; Chance the Rapper’s, Coloring Book, J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Nas’ Distant Relatives and God’s Son.

Creating: I will be working on a curriculum that takes Diasporic children on a journey about race and identity through movies and music.

You can expect that we here at CREAD will be bringing our unapologetic, unabashed,unflinching, unrelenting love of Black people HARD into the New Year. And our charge is that you do the same, get ya mind right, get ya money right and be ready for war. Dismantling White Supremacy and Bolstering Black Identity is no easy feat.

[…] Chance for President!! Chance the Rapper is currently one of the most sought after names in hip hop after coming off of a stellar year and completely revolutionizing the music industry. Chance and his team have successfully and adamanly remained an independent entity in a music industry usually driven by big label affiliation. He made history this year by winning 3 Grammys for his album “Coloring Book”, while prompting the institution to change their submission policy to include streamed albums. DOPENESS!!! From ripping up Ellen’s stage while performing “No Problems” to donating $1 million to Chicago public schools to cutting exclusive deals with Apple Music and Kit Kat, Chance is shutting down all of things industry! At this rate Chance poised to obliterate anything that attempts to stop him. We have mentioned Chance the Rapper in the past at CREAD here, here, and here. […]